Friday, February 26, 2010

Review by Shellie: Soulless by Gail Carriger

Genre: Urban Fantasy; Steam Punk; Alternative Reality… and more

Set Up:

In an alternative Victorian London within a steam punk setting, this story depicts a society which is very much like it would have been 130 years ago – excluding the steam punk of course. The only difference is that it includes Vampires, Werewolves, and Ghosts as an accepted part of society.

The main character, Alexia, is special. She is a preternatural, which actually means she is soulless. This has special circumstances for all the supernatural beings in the story. Besides that, she is a spinster, curvy, feisty, and intellectual. All being characteristics which have not been looked upon as positive for a woman living during this time period.

The story includes a set of supernatural characters including a hunky Alpha werewolf, a swishy male vampire with an 18th century fashion sense, and a delicate friend with a love for bad hats. They are all mixed up within a mystery where some intense romance ensues, combined with an amazing mishmash of sub genres – mixing urban fantasy, steam punk, and alternative reality.

My Thoughts:

Amazingly this was my first steam punk novel, and second urban fantasy. What a great fun read. It made me laugh out loud, giggle, and blush. It has some very interesting yet tasteful romantic interludes, as well as a few evil and funny entanglements. I love feisty women with parasols.

The language is intelligent and felt just enough like the period in which it was set, but understandable for a modern reader. It is also wryly funny, and Alexia is determined to go against the societal norm for women. Which makes her a wonderful and strong female character. My favorite.

Highly recommended for an intellectual, humorous, and fun read. I give Soulless - 4 stars. I am looking forward to the next book in her series which is called Changeless, and then Blameless.

Ms. Carriger began writing in order to cope with being raised in obscurity by an expatriate Brit and an incurable curmudgeon. She escaped small town life and inadvertently acquired several degrees in Higher Learning. Ms. Carriger then traveled the historic cities of Europe, subsisting entirely on biscuits secreted in her handbag. She now resides in the Colonies, surrounded by a harem of Armenian lovers, where she insists on tea imported directly from London and cats that pee into toilets. She is fond of teeny tiny hats and tropical fruit. Soulless is her first book.

This has been on my 'to read' list for a while; I keep getting sidetracked from it. While I'm not certain I'd enjoy alternate reality/steampunk, the author's style does seem to be amazingly witty and funny. Thanks for reviewing this one, Shellie -- I'll make an effor to read this next!

Nicole -I think you will like it. It is so different from RELEASE. Its funny instead of scary.

They did an amazing job marketing this book.

And don't let the steam punk thing deter you it doesn't play a huge amount in the story. It does look to be a big interest right now - I also have a feeling it may get bigger. I think two author's on the Nebula ballot have steam punk works there.

Whats really great about this particular book is that is available at libraries now... so no need to purchase it. Although copies of it are going for very cheap on Amazon.